OUR  WORK  IN  MALASIA 

INCLUDING  SINGAPORE 


Published  by 

NATIONAL  BOARD  OF  THE 
YOUNG  WOMENS  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATIONS 
of  the  United  States  of  America 
600  LEXINGTON  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK 


%  \ 

OUR  WORK  IN  MALASIA,  INCLUDING 
SINGAPORE 

The  Field 

Malasia,  which  includes: 

Malay  Peninsula,  Singapore  the  principal  city. 
Borneo. 

Celebes. 

Java. 

Large  islands  around  Java. 

Dutch  New  Guinea. 

Sumatra. 


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The  People 

English,  European,  including  many  French  and  Dutch 
and  Portuguese,  Eurasian,  Jews,  Armenian,  Chinese, 
Malays,  Japanese,  Indians. 

The  Languages 

Malay,  English,  Chinese. 

Conditions  of  Women 

English,  European  and  Eurasian— all  regarded  as  Chris¬ 
tian,  but  many  living  irreligious  and  even  Godless  lives. 

Jews — a  few  very  wealthy,  but  many  very  poor  and 
uneducated,  and  living  very  much  like  the  Malay  people. 


Malays — For  the  most  part  ignorant,  degraded  Moham¬ 
medans. 

Chinese — Many  women  in  wealthy  homes  with  limited 
education.  Very  many  poor,  ignorant,  and  even 
degraded. 

Japanese— (a)  A  few  wealthy  women,  wives  of  merchants 
and  traders,  but  with  little  education,  or  religious  teaching, 
(b)  A  large  number  of  professional  immoral  women. 

Indian  (a)  A  few  Parsees,  and  other  higher  class  women, 
(b)  A  large  number  of  ignorant  and  degraded  coolie 


women. 


Avenues  of  Service  Before  Y.  W.  C.  A. 

Hostels  for  business  young  women,  teachers  and  travelers. 
Travelers’  aid. 

Camps  and  conferences. 

Home  study  circles. 

School  and  neighborhood  Bible  classes. 

Bible  training  classes  for  teachers  and  Bible  women. 
Evangelistic  work. 

Training  school  for  Christian  workers  and  teachers. 


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SINGAPORE 


"Hail,  Mother,  East  and  West  must  seek  my  aid 
Ere  the  spent  year  may  dare  the  ports  afar, 

The  second  doorway  of  the  wide  world’s  trade 
Is  mine  to  loose  or  bar. 

"We  also  will  make  promise 

So  long  as  the  blood  endures. 

1  shall  know  that  your  good  is  mine ; 

Ye  shall  feel  that  my  strength  is  yours." 

Thus  Kipling  defines  the  strategic  importance  of  Singa¬ 
pore,  and  those  who  know  something  of  the  problems 
of  the  “Far  East”  are  agreed  that  the  words  of  Eng- 


land’s  response — “Your  good  is  mine’’  need  very  special 
emphasis  to-day. 

A  writer  has  recently  described  in  a  graphic  way  the 
“first  impressions”  of  this  interesting  port.  She  says:  “On 
the  Singapore  wharf  is  a  market  of  models  and  a  life- 
class  for  a  hundred  painters,  and  sculptors  may  study 
all  the  tones  of  living  bronze  in  postures  more  of  repose 
than  of  action,  perhaps.  Japanese,  Chinese,  Siamese, 
Malays,  Javanese,  Burmese,  Singhalese,  Tamils,  Telugus, 
Sikhs,  Parsees,  Lascars,  Malabars,  Malagary,  and  sailor- 
folk  of  all  coasts;  Hindus  and  heathen  of  every  caste 


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and  persuasion  are  grouped  in  brilliant  confusion  of  red, 
white,  and  brown  patterned  drapery,  of  black,  brown, 
and  yellow  skins,  and  behind  them,  in  ghostly  clothes, 
stand  the  pallid  Europeans,  who  have  brought  law,  order 
and  system,  customs,  habits,  comforts  and  luxuries  of 
civilization  to  the  tropics  and  into  the  jungle.  It  was 
not  so  very  hot,  only  eighty-six  degrees,  by  the  ther¬ 
mometer,  but  so  slight  an  exertion  as  to  cross  the  deck 
to  lift  a  book  left  one  limp  and  exhausted,  with  cheeks 
burning,  and  the  breath  coming  faster— that  insidious, 
deceptive  heat  of  the  tropics  declaring  itself — that  steam- 


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ing,  melting  quality  in  the  sun  of  Asia  that  so  soon  makes 
jelly  of  the  white  man’s  brain,  and  that  in  no  way  com¬ 
pares  with  the  scorching,  dry,  ninety  degrees  in  the  shade 
of  a  North  American  hot-wave  summer  day.  But  not¬ 
withstanding  the  fact  that  all  this  is  true,  yet  people  in 
Singapore  are  a  peculiarly  happy  people,  if  we  dare  call 
those  happy  who  are  absorbed  in  and  content  with 
material  property.” 

In  1818,  Sir  Stamford  Raffler  was  ordered  to  estab¬ 
lish  an  English  Port  at  Achin  Head  at  the  north  end 
of  Sumatra.  This  he  did,  but  even  before  he  had 


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obtained  the  full  consent  of  his  Home  Government  he 
founded  a  colony  in  the  Island  of  Singapore,  for  with 
the  foresight  of  a  true  statesman  he  knew  that  the  South¬ 
ern  Point  of  the  Malay  Peninsula  must  control  all  traffic 
with  the  “Far  East.”  His  efforts  on  behalf  of  his  beloved 
colony  were  tireless  and  though  his  time  of  service  was 
brief — he  died  when  only  forty-five — -his  name  ranks 
among  those  of  the  greatest  English  statesmen  of  the 
East. 

The  population  is  now  something  over  800,000. 
There  are  about  5,000  Europeans  including  an  English 


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regiment  that  is  always  stationed  here.  Probably  every 
country  in  Europe  is  represented,  but  women  are  in  the 
minority,  the  ratio  being  about  one  to  three.  When  the 
colony  was  founded  in  1819,  there  were  barely  200 
people  in  the  village  of  Singapore,  but  ere  a  year  had 
passed,  several  thousand  Chinese  of  the  middle  classes 
and  coolies  had  arrived,  and  within  three  years,  the 
population  had  risen  to  over  1  0,000,  and  each  succeed¬ 
ing  year  has  marked  a  steady  growth.  The  phenomenal 
progress  and  prosperity  of  the  colony  have  doubtless  been 
in  a  large  measure  due  to  the  fact  that  Sir  Stamford 


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Raffler  insisted  that  it  be  founded  and  maintained  as  a 
free  port. 

As  early  as  1823,  a  Government  Institution  was 
opened  for  the  education  of  Asiatics,  but  some  time  later, 
it  became  an  elementary  English  school,  and  in  1843, 
a  Girls’  School  was  added.  Other  schools  have  since 
been  opened,  specially  during  the  last  twenty  years,  for 
the  Chinese  people  are  very  progressive  and  are  eager  to 
have  their  children  educated. 

The  moral  conditions  of  the  city — or,  to  speak  more 
accurately,  the  immoral  sections  of  the  city — need  not 


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be  described  here  as  they  have  been  depicted  in  the 
book,  “The  White  Slave  Traffic  in  the  Far  East.” 

Missionary  efforts  have  been  carried  on  in  the  colony 
for  many  years  and  yet  the  number  of  Christians,  apart 
from  the  Europeans  who  are  all  regarded  as  Christians, 
is  less  than  might  be  expected.  The  Malays  are  gener¬ 
ally  Mohammedan  and  during  recent  years  an  ever 
increasing  number  of  the  Chinese  have  professed  that 
faith. 


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Young  Women  s  Christian  Association 
in  Singapore 


In  January,  1913,  Miss  Laura  Radford,  formerly 
general  secretary  at  Calcutta,  India,  was  appointed  to 
the  general  secretaryship  of  the  Singapore  Association. 
Upon  her  arrival  in  Singapore,  Miss  Radford  found  a 
deep  interest  in  the  work,  many  girls  coming  forward 
asking  for  membership.  Association  work  was  begun  in 
Singapore  twenty  years  ago  in  a  school  for  Chinese  girls, 
and  the  branch  in  that  school  has  continued  ever  since 


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as  the  center  for  Association  work.  Upon  Miss  Rad¬ 
ford’s  arrival  it  seemed  imperative  to  secure  suitable  rooms 
for  Association  headquarters.  Early  in  June  the  Asso¬ 
ciation  was  established,  temporarily  at  least,  at  1  1  Dhoby 
Ghaut,  the  rent  being  provided  by  monthly  subscriptions 
from  a  number  of  interested  friends.  Something  of  the 
opportunities  for  service  before  the  Association  can  be 
gleaned  from  the  following  facts  reported  from  a  house 
to  house  visitation : 

“We  visited  fifty  homes  all  of  which  stand  in  two  long 


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blocks  of  connected  buildings  just  beside  our  Institute. 
We  found  that  few  of  the  2  1  6  people  living  in  these  fifty 
homes  speak  English.  Of  this  number  there  were  twenty 
Protestants,  thirty-five  Roman  Catholics,  nine  Jews,  six¬ 
teen  Mohammedans,  twenty  Hindus,  and  four  Buddhists. 
We  also  found  living  within  these  two  blocks  seventy- 
eight  Chinese,  thirty-five  Eurasians,  fourteen  Japanese, 
forty-four  Tamils,  nine  Jews,  and  eight  Portuguese.” 

The  first  conditions  of  Miss  Radford’s  work  can  best 
be  described  in  her  own  words: 


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“Last  week  I  went  to  six  Chinese  homes  and  came  in 
touch  with  nineteen  girls  and  young  women,  either  mem¬ 
bers  or  those  wishing  to  be  members.  It  is  the  personal 
work  here  that  counts,  but  one  life  seems  so  useless  in  the 
face  of  the  great  open  doors  before  us. 

“The  girls’  Bible  class  had  seven  present  the  first  week 
and  seventeen  this  week,  and  we  have  a  ladies’  Bible 
class  of  over  fifteen  members. 

“I  am  studying  Malay  as  it  is  an  absolute  necessity 
in  my  work,  but  thus  far,  I  have  not  been  able  to  find 
a  teacher.  This  fact  illustrates  how  truly  pioneer  work 


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is  needed  in  this  city.  All  the  Chinese,  except  the  new¬ 
comers  from  China,  speak  Malay,  but  only  a  few  of  the 
women  read  or  write  it,  yet  even  those  who  have  some 
English  always  converse  in  Malay.” 

There  are  240  members  of  the  Association  at  the 
present  time. 


